From Social Medical
So, as the healthcare reform initiative that is being hammered out in the House continues through committees, a question is:
What is more important? A Bipartisan initiative? Or a quick step forward in the reform process?
From AmericanSolvent
So far the current form of the bill has passed 3 of the 5 House Committees that have been working on it. Of course by a largely partisan split – all Republicans voted against the bill, and all but a few Dems on each committee voted for it. It is clear that with a Democratically controlled government, the support of the Republicans is not needed, and trying toFrom AmericanSolvent win it will definitely not make the August deadline Obama has pushed for – finishing this before Congress goes on recess.
The biggest concern from fiscally conservative Dems (AKA the Blue Dogs) and the Republicans seems to be that the plan might hurt small businesses and that the price tag might not be worth the benefits claimed by Democratic leaders. The CBO (Congressional Budget Office) definitely did not do the healthcare initiative any justice in the testimony given by the CBO Chief the other day – citing that the plan might actually be untimely in an already weakened economy, especially with the major deficit the U.S. government is already facing.
(UPI Photo/Kevin Dietsch)
A bipartisan initiative will almost definitely take some of the agressiveness of the bill away, soften some of the amendments, and lower the price tag – in the end, these changes may undermine the effect of the reform in the first place. I feel this is an initiative that will take some serious investment in order to even be effective. Incrementalism may be a bad path to take when the cost of healthcare rises at twice the rate of inflation and the employer-based health insurance premiums have risen 120% since 1999, while people’s wages have grown by 29% for the same period.
So I can understand Obama’s urgency. It is a lot of money to spend by an already indebted government. I don’t doubt that it will already be a strain in an embattled economy. But if not now, then when? Will we wait for the conditions to be “just right”? There will always be something that makes health care reform less than ideal – that is until you just do it and the changes of today become the norm of tomorrow.
I am a bit disappointed in the lack of bipartisanship on a lot of the major legislative intiatives that have gone forward. I would have thought that Obama would have been able to inspire this interaction – as he continuously boasted he could do during the campaign – but I guess even he has to hang up the dancing shoes at some point in order to get something done. I don’t blame him for not achieving the bipartisanism he wanted to, because he has made the effort. I guess it is true that you “can lead a horse to water, but you sure can’t make it drink.” I imagine it would be much harder to force a wild elephant to the watering hole.
You inspired many Obama, including me. But I guess somethings are just beyond your level of influence. So I say go forward and push for healthcare reform. America will thank you later.
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